You’ve been experiencing issues with your iPad lately , and to try and fix them without having to contact Apple customer service, you have been advised to format your tablet. Never having it before, however, you are not sure how to proceed and, for this reason, you are wondering if I can help you in this regard. Of course yes, God forbid!
If you spend a few minutes of your free time, I can explain how to format iPad by giving you all the information you need to restore the device to factory settings. Additionally, you’ll find the walkthrough for resetting a tablet for sale and also instructions for resetting a locked iPad.
If that’s exactly what you wanted to know, let’s not go any further and see together how to proceed. Make yourself comfortable, set aside five minutes of free time and dedicate yourself to reading the next lines. By carefully following the instructions I am about to give you and trying to put them into practice, I assure you that you will be able to format your iPad without encountering any kind of problem. Let it bet?
Index
- How to format iPad from iPadOS
- How to format iPad with iTunes
- How to format iPad to sell it
- How to Format Locked iPad
- How to Format iPad without Apple ID
How to format iPad from iPadOS
All you have to do to format iPad is to access the settings of your device and, after making a backup, select the option to restore it to factory conditions.
To proceed, take your iPad and access the iPadOS Settings by pressing the gear wheel icon on the Home screen. Now, if you want to back up your device to iCloud , tap your name displayed at the top left and select the iCloud and iCloud Backup options .
In the new screen that appears, if automatic backup is disabled, move the lever for the iCloud Backup option from OFF to ON , tap the Back up now item and wait for the progress bar to reach 100%.
Keep in mind that to make backups on iCloud it is necessary that there is sufficient space available on iCloud: if you see the message Cannot backup iPad because there is not enough available space on iCloud , access the iCloud section of iPadOS again, press on the item Manage space , tap on the Backup option and, in the new screen displayed, select the iPad Backup item , in order to choose which data to include in the backup and reduce the required space.
Alternatively, you can free up iCloud space by turning off the synchronization of unnecessary data and applications or increase iCloud space by activating one of the available iCloud + subscription plans , starting at € 0.99 / month for 50 GB . To learn more, you can refer to my guide on how to buy space on iCloud .
At this point, if your intention is to format iPad Pro , format iPad Mini or any other model of iPad in your possession, access the iPadOS Settings again, press the General item and select the Transfer or initialize iPad option .
Once this is done, press on the Initialize content and settings item , tap the Continue button and enter any unlock code for your iPad. Finally, in the Apple ID Password screen , enter your Apple ID password in the appropriate field and, if necessary, press the Disable option , to disable Find My (Apple’s service that allows you to locate the devices associated with your Apple ID ) and start iPad initialization.
Once the procedure is complete, the device will restart and you can choose whether to set it up as a new iPad or to restore a previous backup. In that regard, my guide on how to set up iPad may be useful .
How to format iPad with iTunes
If you prefer to format iPad with iTunes , first connect the tablet to your computer via the USB cable , as I explained to you in my guide on how to connect iPad to PC .
Now, if you have a Windows PC or an older Mac with macOS 10.14 Mojave or earlier, start iTunes and, if this is the first time you connect the computer and the tablet, authorize the connection. Then press the Continue button that appeared on the computer screen and the Authorize item shown on the iPad display and type the unlock code on the latter .
Once this is done, click on the tablet icon that appears at the top left and, if you want to backup iPad to your computer, click on the Back up button now visible in the Backup section . Once the backup is created, click on the Restore item and select the Next and Accept options , to completely reset iPad .
If, on the other hand, you have a recent Mac with macOS 10.15 Catalina or later versions, start the Finder by pressing on its icon (the smiling face ) in the Dock bar and click on the iPad item located in the sidebar on the left.
Again, if you wish, you can back up your iPad by selecting the Back up all iPad data to Mac and Back up now options . Alternatively, by placing the check mark next to Back up iPad’s most important data to iCloud , you can also back up to iCloud.
At this point, to initialize your iPad and install the latest version of iPadOS, locate the Software section , click on the Reset iPad and Reset buttons and select the Continue and Accept options .
Also in this case, as I indicated earlier to format iPad from iPadOS , your tablet will be restored to factory conditions and you can choose whether to manually configure it as a new device or to restore a possible backup.
How to format iPad to sell it
How do you say? Would you like to format iPad to sell it ? In that case, just initialize iPad from iPadOS or with iTunes without doing a new setup, so that the new owner can do it.
If, on the other hand, you have already sold your iPad without formatting it first, you will be happy to know that it is possible to start the initialization procedure even remotely, by connecting to the official iCloud website and logging in with the credentials associated with your Apple ID .
Once this is done, select the Find iPhone option , press on the All devices item located in the top menu and select the iPad option of [name] from the opened menu. Then click on the Initialize iPad item visible in the box that appeared on the screen, press the Initialize option , type the password of your Apple ID in the appropriate field and select the Finish option , to restore iPad remotely.
Once the reset procedure is complete, the new owner will be able to configure the device and associate their Apple ID.
How to Format Locked iPad
If you need to format locked iPad because the device screen does not respond to touch, I recommend that you force restart it first.
To proceed, if you have an iPad without a Home button , press and quickly release the Volume Up button , then the Volume Down button and, finally, hold the top button (the one you use to turn on iPad ) until the device starts to restart. Do you have an iPad with a Home button ? If so, press and hold the Home button and the top button at the same time until you see the Apple logo, this will unlock iPad locked .
If by doing so the tablet resumes working correctly and you still consider it necessary, you can format iPad from iPadOS or with iTunes , as I explained to you in the previous lines of this guide.
If, on the other hand, you continue to experience a screen lock despite the forced restart or your iPad freezes on power up, you can format iPad with the keys . To do this, connect the device to your computer via the USB cable and, if necessary, authorize the communication between iPad and computer.
Once this is done, if you have an iPad without a Home button , press and quickly release the Volume Up button , then the Volume Down button, hold down the top button until the device starts to reboot, and then continue to hold it down until you see the screen of the recovery mode.
If, on the other hand, you have an iPad with a Home button , press and hold the Home button and the top button at the same time until you see the Apple logo and keep holding it until you see the recovery mode screen.
Now, regardless of which iPad model you have, you should see a message about restoring iPad on your computer. Then click the Update button to download and install the latest version of iPadOS and restore your iPad while retaining the settings and contents of the device.
If the software update also fails, repeat the procedure I just indicated and click on the Reset button to restore iPad to factory settings. More info here .
How to Format iPad without Apple ID
If you are wondering if it is possible to format iPad without Apple ID , I am sorry to tell you that the answer is no. In fact, the password of the Apple ID in use on the iPad to be reset is always required to start the device initialization procedure.
If so, you can attempt to recover your login details by logging into Apple’s official website and selecting the Forgot Apple ID or Password? . Now, enter the email address associated with your Apple ID in the appropriate field, type the characters visible on the screen in the field Type the characters in the image and click on the Continue button .
At this point, all you have to do is follow the instructions shown on the screen and provide all the required data: the procedure varies depending on the security settings you have applied to your Apple ID and any other devices associated with it. To learn more, I leave you to my guide on how to recover Apple ID .
If, on the other hand, you do not remember the email address associated with your Apple ID, you can find it indicated in the iPadOS Settings , by pressing on your name displayed at the top left. In any case, please note that you can also retrieve the email address in question by accessing the official Apple website and selecting the options Forgot Apple ID or password? and Look for it here .